Illegal immigrants wanting to get into the UK and wanted criminals seeking to escape are being purportedly assisted by Albanian people-smugglers to do so against paying £2,500 in cash. (AFP/File)
Metropolis Desk-
Albanian people-smugglers are allegedly helping criminals trying to flee and illegal immigrants trying to enter the UK.
The Daily Mail, a British publication, alleged on Friday that people traffickers were getting paid twice: for smuggling suspects out of the UK and illegal immigrants into it.
According to reports, Albanian gangs have been hawking escape excursions on lorries for “people who have problems and want to leave England as soon as possible” on TikTok.
A reporter pretended to be someone who wanted to help a relative who needed to escape the UK after being implicated in a murder as part of an undercover investigation. According to the source, it would cost £3,000 to smuggle the man out.
Another TikTok account, according to the publication, claimed to smuggle out wanted criminals for £17,500 by posing as reserve lorry drivers after processing fraudulent documents for them.
This technique is frequently used to transport illegal immigrants into the UK, according to a smuggler who was mentioned. On Friday, Tory lawmakers criticized the people-smuggling organizations for profiting by “using the UK like a criminal playground.”
According to Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch UK, “Albanian criminals who appear to have taken over and are free to act as they like are turning our country, which was previously admired for its law and order, into the Wild West. It is shameful.
More than 38 suspected Albanian criminals are being sought by UK police, including nine murderers, two alleged rapes, an accused £3 million fraudster, a cannabis grower, and a drug dealer, among others.
People smugglers are thought to have assisted such criminals in leaving the nation. Another TikTok advertisement offered a way for “people with problems” to leave England for £2,500 by “going to France or Belgium” on the back of a lorry. The TikTok page of a second people-smuggling organization advertised “inbound and outbound by lorry.” Another smuggling organization’s third page requested direct communications from “anyone who wants to return to the EU from England by lorry, people with problems who cannot get an airplane” to return to the EU by lorry. Guaranteed in full.
The website featured more than 40 articles, many of which encouraged Albanians in France or Belgium to contact them to arrange for illegal entry into the UK via lorry or “super comfort” yacht.
One smuggler account, “Travel Agency London,” requested £17,500 to pick up a “fugitive killer” from a safe house in Leeds and carry him out of the UK using fictitious travel documents.
According to the smuggler, “We constantly bring people from Belgium to England in the cab of the lorry as a second driver.”
Former attorney and Tory MP Gareth Johnson called the newspaper’s findings “frightening.”
They treat our nation like a criminal playground and think they are beyond the law, which is concerning, according to Johnson.
“This is the result of having boundaries that are so permeable.
“It is utterly cynical that it is the same gangs making money to take them both ways if criminals are coming here illegally, but we can hardly be surprised that criminals are escaping when they are wanted.”
As many migrants enter the UK through Dover, a Tory MP named Natalie Elphicke stated: “This study emphasizes that the small boat crisis is about serious and organized crime in addition to illegal immigration. The criminal gangs won’t be stopped until they realize they can’t use small boats to get away.
That is why, according to her, France must cooperate with the UK to prevent small boats from leaving the French shore.
The Daily Mail reported that even though TikTok blocked accounts for human trafficking, these pages typically swiftly returned in a similar format.
A TikTok representative stated: “We have zero tolerance for content that supports human trafficking and smuggling. We continue to work closely with UK law enforcement and industry partners to detect and remove objectionable content even after the aforementioned videos and accounts were blocked.
Source- Arab News
